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HMS ALBION REINFORCES BRUNEI [Allocated Title]

Other titles:POST-WAR NAVAL OPERATIONS - SOUTH EAST ASIA [Allocated Series Title]

Summary: The new commando carrier HMS Albion takes part in the suppression of the Brunei Revolt, disembarking the helicopters of 845 Squadron at Brunei Town.

Description: Reel One. HMS Albion enters Singapore. Sequence shot from the quayside as troops disembark with their kit to board waiting transport. A band is playing to welcome them. A soldier kisses a baby held up by his wife. The film then reverts to Albion's arrival - she takes up her berth alongside and a gangway is rigged. Final shot onboard the carrier, down one of the lift wells to troops on the hangar deck preparing for disembarkation.
Reel Two. Christmas onboard Albion. A cook prepares turkeys for roasting. CU of the Christmas Day menu. Ratings serve themselves and eat with relish. Christmas pudding follows, and the meal is washed down with cans of beer. Cut to Brunei operation. Nets of supplies - ammunition for the 105mm pack howitzer - are lowered into a lighter alongside. Wessex HAS.1s of 845 Squadron are moved from the portside park onto their spots - RM transport is parked aft. Cut to base at Brunei Airport where Whirlwind HAS.7s of 846 Squadron are deployed - Whirlwind U takes off. A tipper truck dumps a load of gravel for surfacing the bare earth. MS of the men's tents. A man sits in the entrance to a tent, emptying cans of food into a billy. A tractor carries fuel drums to helicopter W. MS of a notice board reading GUNAKAN-LAH BAHASA MELAYU (Please use the Malay language). A Land Rover goes past. Whirlwind Z flies in to join W. General shots about the strip - Whirlwind T, a dilapidated corrugated iron shed, fuel drums and pumps, refuelling of Whirlwind U. Another tent is set up. US M274 Mechanical Mule drives past carrying fuel drums. Whirlwind W flies in for refuelling. Cut to Albion at sea - Wessex C lands on, followed by D, and marines deplane. L lands on, disembarks marines while refuelling, then takes off again. Cut to a riverside encampment as two long boats leave carrying troops. Aerial view of the jungle. Back on Albion, two senior officers are flown in for a conference - when they leave their helicopter also carries a fuel drum in a cargo net.
Reel Three. Building work continues at Brunei Airport. MS of the control tower. LS past a large marquee tent to a banner reading DISPERSE OR WE FIRE in English, Chinese and Malay. Pan across encampment - marines climb aboard one of their Citroën light utilities. Cameraman presumably follows and is driven down the field past the 846 Squadron Whirlwinds - at the far end is a RAF Belvedere. Pilot boards a Whirlwind and the aircraft is loaded - the cameraman presumably embarks, for the next shot is of the pilot back on Albion talking with the Commander (Air). Long, somewhat disjointed sequence showing the salvage of Whirlwind U, XN 387. The helicopter has landed in tall grass and the right front wheel has sunk into soft mud, tipping the aircraft over and damaging the main rotor blades. The tail spar is removed to a waiting truck and all but one of the damaged blades worked free. With the help of local villagers the helicopter is then righted. The aircraft is stripped of the remaining rotor blade, sections of damaged fuselage, gear and electronics, before it is picked up and carried off by a Belvedere. The stream of local boys who carry salvaged parts and equipment to the waiting lorry are rewarded by a hand-out of tinned sweets. Continuation of earlier sequence as the pilot who flew the cameraman out to Albion flies him back to Brunei Town in a Wessex - aerial views of Whirlwinds and Belvederes on Brunei airfield, Brunei Town Mosque, and residential areas in the city. Senior officers - including our pilot - gather for a conference ashore. The cameraman and pilot (Lieutenant-Commander A A Hensher, CO of 845 Squadron ?) drive out of the camp, passing an Auster AOP. They continue past a mining complex, through a checkpoint and then through the town to the harbour where the minesweeper HMS Dartington (M.1203) is alongside. The ship's CO, a Lieutenant, shows them round. They return past Brunei Town Mosque and through another checkpoint on the outskirts of the city.
Reel Four. Wessex helicopters of 846 Squadron take off from Albion, now anchored off the coast (at Labuan ?) - one of the aircraft is fitted with the crossbar necessary to carry MATRA rocket tubes. A Bedford 3-ton truck is lifted in slings by the ship's crane. Shot from beach as LCAs run in to disembark Land Rovers. A tank landing ship (L.4086, Arromanches ?) disembarks a Bedford lorry. Disjointed sequences show the general tenor of 845 Squadron's operations: aerial shots of flight over the jungle; Marines boarding a helicopter; Gurkhas deplaning to disperse about a village, while their officer talks with locals; Marines being flown into a village to relieve others who are flown out. Marines examine a native longboat containing a few shotguns and some ammunition captured from the insurgents. A party of soldiers board two of the boats and head off up the river.

Notes: Summary: Reel One may show the return of Albion to Singapore immediately after the Brunei operation. The troops being disembarked include Highlanders and Gurkhas, and it was elements of 1/2nd Gurkha Rifles and Queen's Own Highlanders, together with 42 Royal Marine Commando from Hermes, who broke the back of the revolt. Albion's two helicopter squadrons and the men of 40 Commando were to consolidate the British position